Renew On Line (UK) 28

Extracts from the Sept-Oct 2000 edition of Renew
These extracts only represent about 25% of it

In the run up to SR2000, the Governments annual spending review in July, there was a flurry of bids and lobbying for more money for sustainable energy. SERA, the Labour Party affiliated Socialist Environment and Resources Association, called for the renewable energy R&D budget to be increased from its present level of £14m (£18m for 2001/2) to £50m p.a It also called for transitional market support for key technologies, including offshore wind, solar energy and wave energy, of £100m...MORE

2. Wind push at PRASEG

The recent Parliamentary Renewable and Sustainable Energy Group conference saw targets and funding as key issues, as Godfrey Boyle reports

The main focus of discussion at the PRASEG 2000 Conference was on how the EU’s and UK’s sustainable energy targets can be achieved.

The UK has fallen far behind countries like Germany, Denmark and Spain in its rate of renewables deployment...MORE

WREC North meets South

The World Renewable Energy Congress at Brighton attracted over 800 participants from 94 countries, including many from the developing world, and as many again toured the excellent linked Renewable Energy 2000 exhibition- the largest so far in the UK. From these two events it seems clear that around the world something of a shift has occurred in strategic thinking- ...MORE

4. Lower Carbon Future

Energy Efficiency and Renewables to fight emissions and Fuel Poverty

The Environmental Change Institute's new ‘Lower Carbon Futures’ report was launched recently together with the DETR's ‘English House Conditions’ Survey 1996- pointing out yet again the low energy efficiency of much of the UK’s housing stock, and the linked problem of fuel poverty...MORE

5. New UK building regs

The Department of Environment, Transport and the Regions has produced a consultation document on some proposed new building regulations for England and Wales, which aim to cut CO2 emissions from new houses by up to a quarter and save householders as much as 25% on energy bills, by raising building energy performance standards in part L of the Regulations...MORE

6. Euro Greens want more

The EU Commission recently proposed higher targets for renewable energy (see Renew 126) and although this was seen as a step in the right direction, the euro green lobby felt it was not yet solid enough...MORE

7. World roundup

Green China

A recent International Symposium on Renewable Energy Development, held in China by the World Energy Council and others, heard that China has a 254 million kilowatts of recoverable wind energy, with 200,000 small wind generators already installed and more than 20 large wind farms established. There are also 50,000 small hydropower stations. Tidal energy potential of more than 20 million kilowatts is available with a dozen power stations already built. A geothermal capacity of 3.5 million kilowatts could be put to use, and 300 million tons of feedstock for bioenergy are available each year. Further, 7.6 million families have marsh methane ponds which turn agricultural waste into fuel.

8. Climate Change

Greens say Kyoto is Threatened

The leading industrialised nations are undermining the effectiveness of the Kyoto agreement to combat global climate change, according to an international coalition of environmental organisations and sections of the Climate Action Network around the world. They say that the world's most industrialised nations are looking for loopholes to allow emissions to increase by 15-20%. The green groups single out the United States, Canada, Japan, Australia and New Zealand as the main culprits...MORE

9. ABB: Billion-dollar Boom?

ABB, the global technology company, outlined its strategy for alternative energy solutions at a press conference in London recently, saying it expects its share of the business to reach US$ 1 billion within the next five years. "We have developed technologies that make wind power and other renewable and alternative energies economically attractive for the first time- both small-scale and large-scale solutions," said Göran Lindahl, ABB's President & CEO. "Especially important is the information technology (IT) and communication features that we've built into the systems, making them easier to operate and maintain and much more cost-effective than conventional approaches."...MORE

"Nuclear may need climate change more than climate change needs nuclear."   Nucleonics Week, 22, October 1998.

NIRS, the US based Nuclear Information and Resource Service, has produced a briefing note on nuclear power and the Clean Development Mechanism. Below we reprint an edited version....MORE

Renew 127 looks again at the prospects for Local Renewables, following on from the NATTA Conference on that topic earlier in the year. There’s a Feature article by Emily Hinshelwood from the AAT wind group in Wales, and reports on various local initiatives around the UK and elsewhere.

Renew 127 also looks in detail at the new report on Climate Change and UK Energy Policy produced by the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution. In addition, the Technology section looks at wind power in cities and at the attempt to devise safer form of nuclear power.